Blue Jaysin' It Up

I love Toronto.  It's the city where my cousins grew up, the city with the awesome Chinese food, in the land of maple syrup and poutine.  I pretty much love everything about Toronto, and no, not even the winters would make me think twice about moving there, if given the chance.  I mean, seriously.  The Chinese food alone is incentive enough.  Also, I love Canadian accents and cool Canadian currency... and Canadian boys.  Mmm... Canadian boys... with their accents... and access to excellent Chinese food... and legitimate cold weather... *swoon*

I meant, I love Atlanta!  (You can't call me a traitor, I DO love Atlanta.  But Toronto = VACATION NO WORK SLEEP EAT DRINK BE MERRY DREAMY MEN CITY, and Atlanta = Where the Players Play.  And I'm pretty tired of the players playin', ya know what I'm sayin'?)

So as I mentioned before, I was planning on going to a Jays game while in Toronto, though, I'm pretty sure nobody in my family wanted to go at all... I'm the baseball fan in the family.  *shrug*  Sorry, guys?

Besides!  It was my first Blue Jays game since June 22, 2004.  And in 2004, I saw the Jays play Tampa Bay, as well.  (yes, I cheated, and looked up the box score.  I wasn't as into the Jays then as I am now.)  BUT I did remember that Fred McGriff was the DH in that game (for the Devil Rays), and I also remember that the SkyDome was still the SkyDome, and the roof was open.  I could see CN Tower.  :)  Also, Eric Hinske was still a Jay at that point, so I saw Hinske play in a Jays uniform 6 years ago.  :)  I also saw Jose Bautista play in a Rays uniform.

Jays fell to the Rays that day, 5 to 1.  But to be honest, nobody expected otherwise.  (I say this with all the love in the world for the Jays... but they were not very good.  Howie Clark, who now plays for the Twins, scored the only Jays run, I think.)

However, the Jays game that I attended six years later was different.  I could choose between a Tampa Bay game or a Boston game.  As much as I wanted to do both, it just wasn't possible because there were 7 of us cousins... And also, limited funds.  For some reason, we thought that the Sunday game (August 8, 2010) was going to be a Ricky Romero game... even though my phone disputed this.  But I figured that Ryan would know since he lives in Toronto, and follows the Jays a bit more than I do.  Nope.  It was Brandon Morrow.  The boys (not my brothers or cousins) seemed displeased.  I was a little bit disappointed, myself.  Ricky Romero is awesome.  But I had watched (on MLB.tv) Morrow pitch against the Orioles, and he got himself out of whatever trouble he got himself into, every time.  I was impressed, and that was enough for me.
Plus, he's cute.

Reuters Pictures

So of course, we get there late.  Look.  What can I say?  I'm the baseball fan, but I also like sleep.  Plus there were 7 of us... and 2 more meeting us at the game.  We got seats overlooking left field.  NICE view... but the the roof was closed because it was overcast.  I wish it had been open because it felt really still in there... like the air was dead.  (I like moving air... it's a thing.)  Also, no pictures of  CN Tower like this, so boo.

We were walking towards our seats when there was sudden cheering.  Want to know why?  Because Yunel Escobar (who Ryan likes to call my boyfriend) had scored a run in the bottom of the 1st, driven in on a single by Vernon Wells!  (Yay, Yunel! <3 <3 <3)  It was the only run that would be scored during the game.  The previous game was a 17-11 monstrosity (8 homers by the Jays, there), and the roof was open.  With the dead air and the offensive outburst the day before, the bats were relatively quiet.  

Meanwhile, Brandon Morrow had already had himself a 1-2-3 top of the 1st... 3 strikeouts, and that's including Evan Longoria.  Andrew then proceeded to explain to me that if a Jays pitcher has 7 Ks, then you could present your ticket at a Pizza Pizza (see Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) for a free slice.  

Yes, that ticket.  It's pretty.

Brandon Morrow had his 7th strikeout by the 4th inning.  He didn't stop there, though.  Jays fans should have been able to get two-and-a-half slices of pizza, because Brandon Morrow struck out 17 Rays.  That was not a typo.  SEVENTEEN.  One-Seven.  Against Tampa Bay.  The Toronto Blue Jays SWEPT the Tampa Bay Rays.  They won the series against the Yankees (in New York, no less!) coming into the Rays series.  How awesome was it that I got to catch this?  And I watched a BEAUTY of a game.  Pitchers' duels are boring for casual baseball fans or ... non-baseball fans.  But for people like me, it's super exciting.  (Or distressing, depending on which team you're rooting for...  Le sigh, Braves... le sigh.)

He had a no-hitter going up until the 9th inning, with 2 outs.  :(  And of course, it was Evan Longoria who broke it up.  And Aaron Hill looked absolutely distraught over not getting to that ball.  Honestly, though, I don't think he would have had a play.  Poor guy.  He clearly wanted very badly to help Morrow to that no-no.  BUT!  Brandon Morrow had his first 1-hitter, and his first complete game on August 8, 2010.  The only hit he gave up was a single by Evan Longoria.  There are really worse things, don't you think?  :)  The Jays players gave him a Gatorade shower and not one, but two shaving cream pies to the face after the game.  This video doesn't show the second pie, which involved Shaun Marcum hiding behind a lawncare vehicle and sneaking up and getting Morrow in the face after he'd already been doused and pied!  :)

Gatorade Shower! (AP)

Shaving Cream Pie #1 (Reuters)

Shaving Cream Pie #2, Courtesy of Shaun Marcum (Reuters)

Vernon Wells, I should mention, made a spectacular catch which I saw live... !  He's awesome.  

I'm sad that I didn't get to see any particular Yunel acrobatics or any Jo-Bau homers... but really, what could Yunel do?  Morrow had taken it upon himself to give everybody a nice relaxing day.  

OH!  And I saw Jose Molina steal a base.  Standing up.  IT WAS AWESOME.  I wish I had gotten a picture of it, but I'm not a very diligent photographer, in spite of my penchant to stick cameras in everybody's faces.  The Jays dugout was practically rolling around laughing when they saw what had happened.  Jose Molina stole a base, dude!  Get real! 

Another interesting thing (which I also failed to take a picture of):  the beers had lids on the cups.  There were LIDS on the cups of beer.  No beer spillage!  EXCELLENT.  :)

I'm still trying to get my pictures organized.  I have fuzzy iPhone photos, decent (and blurry) point-and-shoot photos, and disappointingly wobbly and blurry dSLR photos.  I promise that when I get those sorted out, I'll post them here!  I got a couple of decent Yunel shots (but he looks tiny in them).  And I got a couple shots of Jose Bautista, before he shaved off his beard.  Didn't get any of Aaron Hill or any non-blurry Brandon Morrow photos though... le sigh.

Greetings From Toronto!!

Well.  Jeff Francoeur, much to my annoyance and irritatingly, also, to my pleasure, hit a home run today.

Before I am skewered, let me explain.

I am much displeased and very put out by the fact that Jeff Francoeur hit a homerun against the Atlanta Braves.  See the rule is... he's only allowed to hit one of those when we have a 5 run lead over the Mets.  Nice and comfortable, with 2 outs.  He and I have an agreement.  You know, the type where I coax him from the stands about this rule, and when I shout it at him through the television.  But he agrees with me, I know.  It's because we went to school together.  It's an old-time's sake thing.  Even more vexing than this is that he hit the homerun off of Billy Wagner.  This is another blown save for Billy (which is perplexing).

Then again, even though the Braves lost because of Jeff's homer off of Wags (groan), a small part of me is whooping on the inside.  "That's right," says that voice within.  "Shut the haters up."  He's still the hometown boy; he just plays for a different team... and he was booed in his hometown.  That is uncalled for, and I'm glad that he at least temporarily shut some haters up.  In doing so, he violated his agreement with me, though... since Atlanta Braves must always triumph.

I'll let you have it though, Jeff.


MEANWHILE... Ricky Romero handed the New York Yankees their asses on a platter.  That's 2 games that the Jays have whooped ass on the Yankees.  Which means (I think ) that they've won the series.  I think I get to go see them on Sunday.  I'm ultra excited... :)  Yunel?  hii baby.  Jose Bautista, my new Jays crush.  Aaron Hill, my old Jays crush... and Ricky Romero... Yankee-killer.  Hopefully also a Rays killer too.  :)

Sundries

1. Jose Bautista is a beast and I hope the Jays do not trade him.  If the Blue Jays DO trade him, it had better be for amazing prospects, and a decent OF replacement.
2. I'm so glad that David Ross has signed a 2 year extension with the Braves!  BEST back-up catcher, ever!
3. I cannot wait to see Gregor Blanco when the rosters expand in September.
4. Hurrah for Aaron Hill, who has seemingly found his stroke once more!
5. I get to see Yunel at the earliest on August 6 and at the latest on August 10!  :)
6. Craig, Stephen, and I went to the Braves Blood Drive yesterday.  I didn't have the presence of mind to bring a camera and take pictures (we were in the VERY air-conditioned 755 Club), but man... Turner Field is beautiful.  
7. It's Tommy Hanson vs. Stephen Strasburg tonight!!  Young gun pitchers' duel.  I hope we score first, and I hope that Tommy's got top-notch control, and we shut the Nats down.  I'm excited and I cannot wait!  Also, I'm sure everybody else is excited about this (though I'm kinda meh about it):  J-Hey vs. Strasburg.  I'm more of a pitcher's girl, what can I say?  :)
8. I hope Natey and Gonzo hit homeruns off of the Nats this series.

PS--I think I will refer to Alex Gonzalez as "Gonzo" from now on, even though my original Gonzo was Mike Gonzalez.  However, in my labels/tags, I'll still refer to Alex as AGon to differentiate posts about him and posts about Mike.

BREAKING NEWS:  The Braves have optioned Nate McLouth to Triple-A Gwinnett and activated Brent Clevlen from the DL.  I hope Natey does well in AAA and builds up his confidence as a hitter again.  And in 4 days, I hope we'll see Gregor Blanco again... I wish we could have called him up, but alas...

GO BRAVES


More things to say (last edit, I promise):
I was reading Mark Bowman's blog (I don't know what possessed me to do that because half the time, I'm infuriated)... and he had this to say about the Braves bullpen:

"I was thinking the Braves might also be able to improve their relief corps by sending Kris Medlen back to the bullpen and promoting Mike Minor to serve as Atlanta's fifth starter.  But this doesn't appear to be a one of the club's primary options."  

ARE YOU SERIOUS??  He wants to send Kris Medlen back to the bullpen?  Why can't Mike Minor be in the bullpen?  He really thinks that Meds, who has been AMAZING should be sent back to the bullpen.  Wow.  This is exactly why I think he is out of his mind.  Also, his entry on Schafer annoyed me as well; he never gave Yunel the same benefit of the doubt.

In Defense of Nate McLouth

Again and again, I repeat that I am a rabid Braves fan, way beyond the "love love super hug explosion of glory level" as seen on my graph.  And again and again, I mention that I am unreasonable and irrational about my adoration of the team and the players.  Admittedly, there are some that I adore less than others, but I'll take a Braves player over any other player on any other team.  (And yes, that did include Jo-Jo Reyes, when he was still a Brave, even though he never seemed to be able to get it together.  He had to have had something... and that's why he made the team.)

With all that being said, Nate McLouth is my subject.  Yes, I know he's below the Mendoza Line with his batting average of .168.  Yes, I know that he is 1-for-12 since he came back from the disabled list.

And no, I do not think we should trade him.  

Firstly, who could we possibly get that could be good enough in CF that we could not get internally?  (Hi, Gregor.  Hi, Jordan.  And before anybody says anything, I know that my Birthday Buddy has been sent down to Double-A, thanks.)
Secondly, HE'S HAD TWELVE (12) AT-BATS SINCE HE CAME BACK FROM THE DL.  Give me a break!  Give HIM a break.  The fact of the matter is, that is a small sample size to judge someone's worth.  And while MattE was fired up, and Yunel was doing well after they came off the DL, not everybody can say that a stint on the DL magically makes you wield a fiery bat of ball-hitting glory.  (Oh, yes, and JJ, too... back to his old self.)  We know that Nate can hit.  We know that Nate has power.  And we absolutely know that Nate can sprint, field, and throw.  I think he needs a bit more time than 3 games and 12 at-bats after an injury like a concussion to judge whether or not he's worth something to the team.
edit:  fine.  15 at-bats.  But my point still stands.

Yes, I KNOW he's been struggling all season.  He's been struggling since he came to Atlanta, really.  But he does NOT suck.  "Having trouble" does NOT equal "suck."  They are NOT mutually exclusive, true, but they are also not the same.   A player may "suck" but he's not necessarily "having trouble."  Whereas a player might be "having trouble" but we all know that he does not "suck."

Prime example:  Aaron Hill.  He just recently managed to bring his BA up over the Mendoza Line.  But I don't think anybody can doubt his worth to Toronto.  He is a great fielder, and everybody knows that he can hit.  Some players are just off, and yes, that is not beneficial for the team.  But at the same time, fans should know that ballplayers are humans too, and they are probably just as frustrated as we are that they aren't doing as well as they should or usually are.

The reason I brought this up, actually, since I wasn't going to address it at all (because it's a non-issue; we have the smartest front office in baseball), was because I don't approve of our own fans booing our own team.  Seriously.  Who do you think we are, the Phillies or the Mets?  YOU NEVER BOO YOUR OWN TEAM.  YOU NEVER BOO YOUR OWN TEAM'S MEMBERS.  I don't care if they are struggling, you don't do it.  That's the very opposite of the definition of class.

I have never before noticed Atlanta fans doing that.  And I am totally appalled.  There was booing for Melky, for Troy Glaus, for Kawakami, and Natey.  It's uncalled for and it's rude.

Also, Facebook people need to stop trying to invite me to join Facebook groups such as "Jason Heyward > Obama" (wtf does that have to do with ANYTHING?) and "Nate McLouth Sucks."  I will not, repeat, WILL NOT join.  And if any other idiots want to join, that's their prerogative.  I'm just really sick of getting these invites sent to me.  Yes I am a Braves fan.  No I will not talk trash about my own team's players.  GET LOST.

First Place Feels Good

Could you speak up and stop mu-mumbling?

I don't think you came in clear

When you're sittin' on the top

It's hard to hear you from way up here

Thank you Timbaland and Justin Timberlake.

Braves rule.  End of story.  The sports media world needs to wake up.  They think the "real" Phillies can overtake us?  B!tc#, please.  Who needs "superstars" when you've got solid, consistent, and dependable?  Oh, and also, ahem, winning?  That's right.  We've got the Winning Fever, and we aren't about to give it up so easily.

Are the Phillies having an off-season?  Sure.  Does that mean we can't beat them if they were on?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  Get outta here.

The Braves are back in their rightful place, on top.  We hadn't been there in a while.  Being here is like cleaning out your closet and finding that pair of jeans that you hadn't worn in a while.  They feel a little bit foreign at first, but then, you remember why you loved them:  they fit perfectly, and, damn, if you don't look good.

New updated LOVE graph.  And now back to my essays.  GO TIMMY!!  (Hope Natey does well this week.)  Also, I hope Wags gets a chance to redeem himself today.  Go Blue Jays and Yunel and Ricky Romero.  Here's to John Buck and J-Bau hitting more homers!  Here's to Aaron Hill steadily leaving the Medoza Line behind!!

PS:  The only reason that the Brewers are under the "disapprove" mark, by the way, and not at the "hate" mark, is because Ryan Braun is cute.  Also, he made that spectacular catch during the All-Star Game.  That's it.